Absolution Read Free

hell.
    Luke Hutchinson eyed his silent cell phone lying on the coffee table next to his whirring laptop and loaded SIG Sauer, and willed it to ring. He hated the waiting almost as much as the dread he couldn’t shake. In the quiet of the room all his senses were on alert, anticipating…something.
    All thanks to the tattered paperback novel in his lap. He’d found it on his front porch when he’d come back from his morning run. One look at the brown paper wrapping and his heart had gone into overdrive. Nobody sent him Christmas gifts anymore. But this was no ordinary gift.
    It was a promise.
    He stared down at the faded title and thought of the day he’d bought it for his young friend. A piss-poor substitute for his physical presence, but a gesture to show he cared, meant to help Farouk improve his English because Luke could no longer be there to teach him.
    He swallowed a bitter laugh. Looking back, how had he not seen what was coming?
    The title taunted him. To Kill a Mockingbird .
    The significance of the book worked on so many levels, and made his stomach clench tight as a fist.
    He knew exactly what it meant.
    The student was finally coming after the 9

    Kaylea Cross

    teacher. Only Luke didn’t know when that fateful meeting would happen. Or where.
    A shadow moved outside the French doors that led onto the back deck. A quick flash of darkness.
    Hackles rising, he shut the laptop to extinguish its lit screen, snatched up the gun and crept along the wall toward the doors, staying low and out of sight. In the kitchen, pale moonlight shone through the rectangular panes of glass, reflecting on the hardwood floor. The refrigerator hummed quietly.
    Nothing else stirred.
    Pausing, he waited there in the darkness for a few minutes. His mind spun with various tactical scenarios. The chances of someone sneaking up and catching him unawares were almost nil, but he was going to check things out regardless.
    When nothing else disturbed the silence or caught his attention, Luke edged to the French doors. He threw one open and burst through it onto the deck, pistol aimed and ready. A cold breeze blew over his face and rustled the branches of the pecan trees edging the yard. The half moon threw its silver rays onto the grass and led his gaze to the dock that stretched out into the lake. Not a ripple disturbed the clear surface, and he didn’t detect the sound of a motor. He relaxed his stance. Was he just being paranoid? Maybe. Very few people had the ability to take him on, and fewer still worried him.
    But Farouk Tehrazzi was more than capable of keeping Luke awake at night. The bastard had already come close to killing him several times.
    Satisfied he was still alone on his property, Luke slipped back inside and rearmed his custom security system. Yet for some reason he couldn’t shake the anxiety lingering inside him. Was Tehrazzi already stateside?
    No. Impossible. No way could he travel here without someone picking up on it. Luke tossed the 10

    Absolution

    paperback on the couch aside and rubbed his hands over his face.
    He didn’t sleep much so it wasn’t unusual for him to be awake at this hour, but all night he’d had a gut deep certainty of impending doom. Something was wrong, he could feel it. After serving so many years in the shadowy realm of CIA counterterrorism operations, he knew enough to trust his instincts.
    And they screamed that the monster he’d created was on the move again. The “gift” he’d received merely confirmed it.
    The call from his boss back at Langley that morning verified they’d lost their only helpful lead on Tehrazzi when he’d crossed over the Afghani border from Pakistan. Once across, he would settle amongst the Pashtun villages dotting the high mountain peaks of the Hindu Kush. Now they had as much chance of finding him as they did bin Laden.
    Unless Luke could somehow tempt him with an opportunity juicy enough to bring him out of hiding.
    He ran a hand through his shaggy hair,